Thanks, Saw some of your pics, you know the effort involved You must have similar growing conditions at 5000 ft.Getting around 45Ã‚Â° & up at night now, so things starting to really grow with the 18 hour days.

[quote="garden5"]You really put a lot of time and effort into your onions! You did a great job!

Are those rain-barrels I see in the background?[/quote]

Solar heater watering barrels. Our well water is around 40Ã‚Â°f. I fill them & let the sun heat the water for the garden & Green house. I believe the warmer water ( around 70) is better for the plants. Built high to gravity feed to hoses around the garden.

Yes soil temps are critical, even 1 or 2 degrees can make a big difference.Raised beds thaws sooner in the spring & are a few degrees warmer than the garden soil. Raised hills & rows help. Even higher soil temps can be achieved by covering the raised hills/rows with clear plastic & leave a hole just large enough for the plant to grow thru.One of my raised beds is a solar heated design. It gets 12 degrees warmer than the garden soil on sunny days.

thanks for the info! I will definitely consider investing in raised beds for next season, I have a greenhouse (a must in the north as you well know.) But I think it would be a good investment for my outdoors.Luckily, (knock on wood.) all of my plants are healthy and happy right now, but to increase yield I will take this into consideration.

[quote="applestar"]Looks great! Your garden is really growing, and now you'll be getting the benefit of super extra daylight. 8)

So what is the double barrel thingie in the background -- for watering? I see pipes coming out of it....

And are those twiggy things surrounding the garden some kind of bramble berries?

What kind of wildlife do you have to watch out for?

(Sorry if any of these were discussed elsewhere -- just point me to the relevant thread.... :wink: )[/quote]

Thanks

Solar heated water supply for the garden & GH. I fill the drums from well water about 40 Ã‚Â°f. Sun heats it up on a sunny day to the 60 to 70 Ã‚Â° range. (plants don't get shocked every-time I water).I have it plumbed in so it's easy to fill & gravity to the garden hoses & to the GHRaspberries, not a good year this year, tough winter killed most of this years berry cane.Moose, they love broccoli, cabbage & beets, well they eat everything but potatoes & they step all over them.

I too must lookout for moose in my area, they do enjoy brassicas.I find the juncos(birds.) have taken a strong dislike to my marigolds for some reason...not sure, but they like to pick the petals off the flowers?!But better the marigolds (who are the defenders of my vegetables.) than the vegetables themselves!

Are you sure the Juncos are eating the petals and not seeds?The come to my garden with the arrival of hard frost/freeze and stay until just before and/or as the Robins return from their sojourn in the South. They do a thorough job of cleaning up a lot of the weed seeds and flower seeds during their stay.

Also, since in your case, the Junco's are probably nesting, it's possible they are finding bugs -- typical one might be those worms that seem to like marigold/daisy type flowers -- to feed their young? Very curious....

Yes!that is highly probable that they are feeding on the insects on the marigolds, however i never thought of it because i haven't noticed any bugs...the juncos are definitely nesting right now, so they yelled at me a few times because of my presence in the garden, but they seem to be used to me now.There is also a brave squirrel that i have been sicking the cat (flea) on lately, could also be the culprit, but i have yet to catch him in any destructive acts.remains a mystery until i catch someone red pawed or feathered.good news is the rest of the marigolds are very happy and healthy thus far!